Big (Sky) Decisions for Montana Auto Insurance

With so many miles of open road, driving in the Treasure State is often a singular and personal experience. Montana auto insurance is perfectly suited for your driving needs, too --provided you find the insurer that offers you the premium you can afford. Perhaps you live outside of city limits. Or you reside in Billings, where the chances of an accident increase. Either way, it makes sense to compare Montana auto insurance quotes so you'll know that the policy you want comes at the right price.

The Tip of the Glacier

The state requires proof of financial responsibility for every driver. Most residents of the Last Best Place do this through liability insurance, which means carrying a 25/50/10 policy: 25,000 for injury/death for one person, $50,000 for injury/death to more than one person, and $10,000 for damage to property. If you skip these requirements, you're looking at fines as high as $500, five points on your license, and maybe even 10 days in jail --and that's as a first-time offender. If you get caught a second time, the fine and likelihood of jail time increase, and a license suspension of 90 days is automatic. So you'll need at least these guarantees in your Montana auto insurance quotes. Whether you need more protection is up to you. Annual premiums in Montana usually fall about $150 per year below the national average, so you can generally increase your coverage without spending an inordinately high amount.

The Right Montana Auto Insurance for You

You career, driving history, level of education, marital status, and how you use your car all factor into your Montana auto insurance quotes. Take the example of a 30-year-old single woman in Bozeman. A librarian, she drives her Honda Accord LX 10 miles a day, five days a week. For the state-required coverage, her premium is already pretty low at $370. But if she gets married and adds her husband --and his 2002 Nissan Pathfinder --to her policy, the cost will be about $540. Per person, she saves about $100 annually.

Or, consider the effect of safe versus unsafe driver ratings on Montana auto insurance quotes. A 40-year-old man in Missoula with no accidents or suspensions in the past five years drives his Dodge Dakota about 12,000 miles a year. He opts for the minimum required coverage and pays about 1,025 per year. If, instead, he was charged with reckless driving 12 months ago, and running a stop sign 18 months ago, that annual cost rockets to nearly $2,200.

An Informed Decision

For a driver whose history of traffic violations makes him or her fall into a high-risk category, it often pays to take a defensive driving course. You may also want to consider ways to decrease your mileage, such as carpooling. Or if you're a student at the University of Montana, you can apply for a good student discount. There are no definitive ways to know how these and many other choices might lower your premium. If you're serious about lowering your auto insurance quotes, you'll have to compare rates, either through extensive research or by using a free service like NetQuote. Once you have all the facts, affordable insurance in Montana will no longer seem like the Battle of the Bighorn.